Storage battery.



NI. II. IIIIICIIISON III' c. vv. NORTON.

STORAGE BATTERY.

y APPLICATION FILED Aue. I3. I9I4.

/NV/VTRS ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 2l, 1915.

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STORAGE BATTERY.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. I3. I9I4.

' 1,165,101.' Patented Dec. 21, 1.915.

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#im A T TORNEI/5 panying fully described and l UNITED sTATEs 413m-TENT orricn.

MILLER REESE HUT'CHISON AND CHARLES W. NORTON, .OF WEST ORANGE, NEW

JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO EDISON STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY, OF WEST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY,

CORPORATION 0F JERSEY.

sTomeE BATTERY.

` Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 21, 1915.

Application led August 13, 1914. Serial No. 856,516.

age Batteries, of whlch the following is a description.

Our invention relates to improvements in secondary or storage batteries, being in some aspects an improvement on the invention disclosed in our pending appli-cation, serial No. 840,462, filed May 23, 1914, and entitled storage batteries; and while particularly directed to storage batteries of the Edison type, wherein insoluble active materials are employed in an alkaline electrolyte,

ent improvements are applicable to storage batteries of other types. z

rlhe principal objects of our invention reside infan improved arrangement and construction of a storage battery cell whereby the resistance of the cell will be reduced and the eiiiciency thereof increased, and in the provision of improved means for rigidly securing the positive and negative plates together whereby they are maintained properly spaced and insulated from each other and from the walls of the battery can or container, and whereby relative movement of the plates and parts coperating therewith will be eiectively prevented when the assembled battery structure is removed from the container. l

Our invention also contemplates the pro- 'vision of improved means for 'separating and insulating adjacent plates of opposite polarity in a cell from each other.

Other `objects and features ofour invention reside in the detailsV of construction and combinations of elements hereinafter more claimed.

For a clearer understanding of our invention, attention is directed to the accomdrawings forming part of this specification, and in whichy Figure 1 is a view in front elevation, partly broken away, of a storage battery cell constructed in accordance with our inventlon, and showing the same connected to it is to be understood that the presyp a cell of similar construction;Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view, partly 1n elevation and partly broken away,

vof the cell shown in Fig. 1 and showing a safety device or trap applied thereto for controlling the escape of gases therefrom and the admission of air thereto; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view, partly broken away and with parts shown in full, taken approximately on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In all the views of the drawing, correspending parts are designated by the same reference characters.

Referring to the drawing, reference character l represents the can or container of our improved storage `battery cell, which container is substantially rectangular in form and preferably has the top 2 and bottom 3 welded to the side walls thereof, as is customary in storage batteries of the Edison t e.

Vithin the container 1 is disposed a bank or group of positive and negativey plates or elements 4 and 5. These positive and negative platesare preferably alternately arranged side by side and extend transversely of the container, and the number of negative plates preferably exceeds the number of positive plates by one, whereby both of the outside plates adjacent the front and rear walls of the container will be of negative polarity. The positive plates 4 are -each-pro vided adjacent one side with a pole or terminal connection preferably in the form of an integral vertical projection 6, and the negative plates 5 are each provided adjacent the opposite sides with a pole or terminal connection preferably in the form of an integral vertical projection 7. The projecsuitable opening therefor and preferably comprises a pair of flanged hard rubber members or bushings 40 and 41 and a suitable resilient packing member 42, preferably of soft rubber, interposed between memelectrically connectbers-40 and 41. A pair of metallic plates 43 and 44 are respectively disposed beneath the box, and bolts 45 are passed through mem- 'bers 40,-'41 42, 43 and 44, the heads of the i bolts bearing on the upper plate 44 and the lwerends thereof being threaded into the lower plate 43. 'Members 40,` 41, 42, 43 and 44 are provided with registering openings or slots througlrwhich the projections 6 or 7 extend. By tightening the bolts 45, members and 41 will be forced toward each other and the soft rubber member 42 will thereby be compressed land expanded laterally to form fluid tight joints with the projections 6 and 7 --Above -the'stuiing .boxes A and B the projections 6 and'7are rigidly secured together as. by bolts, being maintained in spaced relation by blocks 8. -As

-shown in Fig. 1, the projections 7 of the negative plates 5 may be mechanically and electrically connected, as by bars 8', to the projections 6 of the positive plates of another cell. The construction described above is similarto that disclosed and claimed in an application of Charles lV. Norton, Serial No. 856,527, filed August 13, 1914, and entitled secondary or storage batteries, to which application reference is hereby made for a more detailed descri tion.

Each of the positlve and negative plates 4 and 5' comprises a substantiallyv rectangular grid provided with a plurality of vertical rows of equal size openings 9, wherebyithe grid is formed with vertical strips or risers 10,-11, 12 and 13 adjacent the rows of openings. In the openings 9 of each grid are suitably secured the positive or negative tubes or pockets, the positive tubes 14 pref-- erably being'vertically disposed and the negative pockets 15 preferably being horizontally disposed. In order to increase the conductivity or current-carrying capacity of each grid toward the pole side thereof, the strips 1l .and 12 are widerthan strip l() and strip 13 is wider than strips 11 and l2. The risers 11 and 12 are preferably -of equal width whereby' ,in assembling the cell the vertical rows of openings-in -any grid may be and are respectively registered with the vertical rows of openings 1n the adjacentl grids, to thereby obtain the most effective relative positioning of the positive and negative tubes or pockets carried by therespecltive grids. Owing to the difference in width of risers 10 and 13, the positive `plates will project beyond the negative plates at one side of the cell and the negative plates will project beyond the positive plates at the other side of the cell, as clearly shown in Eig. 3. At -each side of the cell the pro- I jecting portions of the plates of one -polarity are rigidly secured together and maintained in predetermined spaced relation to tal steel strips 27.

each otherv and to the adjacent portions of the plates of opposite polarity by means of metallic bolts or rods 16 and insulatlng blocks 17 of hard rubber mountedon the rods, The rods 16 at each side of the cell passthrough the projecting portions of the plates of one polarity and serve to electrically connect the same.v .The -hard rubber blocks 17 mounted on the rods 16are provided with recesses 18 in which the adjacent edge portions of the plates of opposite polarity t closely and are thereby held 1n fixed spaced relation with each other and with such projecting portions. The hard rubber blocks 17 also' serve to `insulate the v positive and negative plates from theadjaspaced and insulated from each other at their upper end portions, preferablyby means of bolts19 extending through all the plates and hard rubber washers or sleeves20 mounted on these bolts.

Ihe plates are. supported at their lower edges and insulated from the bottom of the lcan or container 1 by a suitable frame or stool 22, and are insulated and spaced from the front and rear walls of the container by suitable frames 23. The supportinfr frame or stool 22 preferably c0111- prlses a plurality of parallel hard rubber bars 24, which extend transversely o f the plates 4 and 5 and are suitably held together in spaced relation by'a plurality of parallel steelstrips 25 disposed at right angles to the bars 24 and suitably secured thereto.

ber members 26, secured together in spaced relation by a plurality of parallel horizon- The positive tubes 14 and negative pockets 15 of adjacent plates 4 and 5 are insulated and separated from each other by means of inverted U-shaped hard rubber strips 28 which ass loosely through and are supported by t e plates 4 above the tubes@ 14. 'The legs of each of these U-shaped strips 28 are respectively disposed on opposite sides of the vpockets 14 of the plate 4f through which the strip extends. Owing to the horizontal .disposition of the negative pockets 15, but comparatively few of these strips 28 are necessary inorder'to -maintain proper insulation between the adjacent positive and negative plates.

It will be apparent that, by reason of the. l l

manner in which the'positive and negative plates are connected at their edge portions and at their upper ends and by -reason of the forni of the strips 28 for insulating the adjacent positive and negative plates from Aeach other and the manner in whichthese strips are supported, the entire assembled battery structure may be removed .bodily `from the f container Without any relative usual filling neck or tube, suitably secured in the top 2 of the container, which is normally maintained closed by aicap or cover 30.

Reference character 31 indicates generally a safety device or trap which is suitably secured to the top 2 of the container and is adapted to control the escape of gases from, and the admission of air to the interior of the cell. This safety device or trap is preferably similar in construction to that disclosed and claimed in an appplication of Miller Reese Hutchison, Serial No. 827,7 84, filed March-28, 1914 and entitled safety de- Vices.

ing strips 27 bent inwardly around the tube 32, as shown in Fig. 3. On removing cap 33 the electrolyte may be readily removed from the cell, without tipping or inverting the latter, either by applying pressure to the surface of the electrolyte through the safety device 31 or by applying suction to the upper end ofthe `tubular member 32. The construction just described for removing the electrolyte is similar to that disclosed and claimed in an application of Miller Reese Hutchison, Serial No. 834,293, filed May 25, 191-1, entitled storage batteries.

It is to beunderstood that many changes in the shape, size, and arrangement of parts of the construction shown and described herein may be made Without any departure from the spirit of our invention and the scope of the appended claims. Having now described our invention what We cla-im as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows.

1. In a storage battery cell, a .plurality of plates arranged side by side each provided with pockets containing'active material, the pockets of each pair of adjacent plates being respectively vertically and horizontally disposed, and means for separating the plates from each other comprising one or more U-shaped insulating" strips extending through each plate provided with the vertically disposed pockets, the legs of each such strip being respectively vertically disposed on opposite sides of the plate through which it extends, substantially as described.

2. In a storage battery cell, a pluralityof alternately arranged negative and positive plates, said negative plates having horizontally disposed pockets containing active material and said positive plates having vertically disposed pockets containing active Inaterial, and means for insulating the plates from each other comprising one or more U- shaped strips extending through each of the positive plates and having their legs respectively vertically disposed on opposite sides of such positive plates, substantially as described.

3. In a storage battery cell, a container, a plurality of negative and positive plates arranged side by side in said container, the positivev plates projecting beyond the negative plates at one side of the cell and the negative plates projecting beyond the positive plates at the opposite side of the cell, and means at each side of the cell for rigidly connecting together the corresponding projecting portions of the plates of one polarity `and for insulating therefrom and maintaining in predetermined spaced relation thereto the adjacent edge portions of the plates of opposite polarity, said means also serving to prevent said plates from contacting the adjacent walls of the container, substantially as described.

4f. In a storage battery cell, a plurality of negative and positive plates arranged side by side, the positive plates projecting beyond the negative plates at one side of the cell and the negative plates projecting beyond the positive plates at the opposite side of the cell, and means at each side of the cell for rigidly and electrically connecting together the corresponding projecting portions ofthe plates of one polarity, said means comprising devices for directly ven- -gaging the adjacent edge portions of the of negative and positive plates arranged side by side, the positive plates projecting beyond the negative plates at one side of the cell and the negative plates projecting beyond the positive plates at the opposite side of the cell, and means at each side of the cell.

for rigidly connecting together the corresponding projecting portions of the plates of one polarity and for insulating therefrom and maintaining in predetermined spaced relation thereto the adjacent edge portions of the plates of opposite polarity, said means comprising one or more rods passing through said projecting portions and mem bers of insulating material mountedv on said rods and engaging the adjacent edge por- LIU tions of the-:plates of opposite polarity tol positively hold the latter at the edge portions thereofin predetermined-spaced relation to said projecting portions, substantially as described.

6. In a storage battery cell a plurality ofl negative and positive plates arranged side by side, the positive plates projecting beyond the negative plates at'one side of the cell and the negative plates projecting beyond the positive plates at the Aopposite side of the cell, means a't each sideof the cell for rigidly connecting together .the corresponding projecting portions of the plates of one po a rity and for insulating therefrom and maintaining in predetermined spaced relation thereto the adjacent edge portions of the plates of opposite polarity, and means for rigidly connecting together and insulating from each other all` of said plates adja cent their upper ends, substantially as described.

7. In a storage battery cell a plurality of negative and positive plates arranged side 'by side, the positive plates projecting beyond the negative plates at one side of the cell and the negative plates projecting bcyond the positive plates at the opposite side of the cell, means at each side of the cell for rigidly connecting together the corresponding projecting portions of the plates of one polarity and for insulating therefrom and maintaining in predetermined spaced relation thereto the adjacent edge portions of the plates of opposite polarity, and means for rigidly connecting together all of said plates at their upper ends, said last means comprising one or more rods extending through all the plates and members mounted on sald rods for insulatin the rods from the plates and vthe plates rom each other, substantially as described.

8. In a storage battery cell, a plurality of alternately arranged negative vand `positive plates respectively having pole or terminal connections at opposite sides of the cell, each of said plates'being provided with a pluralj .respectively registering, substantially as described. j

9. In a storage battery cell, a plurallty of plates arranged side by side -and -provided with pockets containing active material, the pockets of each pair of adjacent plates being respectively vertically and horizontally disposed, and means for separating the plates fromv each other comprising one or more insulating strips vertically disposed between yeach pair of adjacent plates, substantlally as described. l

This specification signed by said MILLER REESE HU'rcHisoN and witnessed on his be@ half the 10th day ofl August, 1914, and

signed by said CHARLES W. NORTON. and witnessed on his behalf the 12th day of-August,

' AMILLER REESE I-IUTCHISON..l

CHARLES -WL NORTON.-

. Witnesses to signature of Miller Reesey Hutchison:

W. P. HUTCHIsoN, M. P. HU'roHIsoN. Witnesses to dsignature of `Charle Norton:

WILLIAM A. HARDY, MARY J. LAIDLAW. 

